


Life is a Whale of a Tale

by twofootwriting



Series: TSS MERM [2]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Logan is a disaster, M/M, Multi, mermaid au, remus is an absolute chaotic chaotic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-10-19
Packaged: 2020-10-04 22:27:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20478464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twofootwriting/pseuds/twofootwriting
Summary: demonic chanting, mermaid au mermaid au mermaid auFic Number 1 of my merm au series. This one is Logan centered!Whalefolk have become scarce, humans continuously hunt them down to either force them into captivity or to reap them of the same materials a normal whale would produce. When a 'shark attack' separated Logan from his pod, the runt was found dying outside the reef. Before the ones who started the attack could get their hands on him, a saving grace managed to pull him up to the surface. But, the hunter wants their prize back and will stop at nothing to get their money.





	1. Chapter 1

The coral was finally starting to bloom. The colors danced all around the ocean plane advertising their beauty for everyone who lived in and around it. Sadly, there was a new type of red that was tainting the beauty of the coral. A small group of tropical merfolk gathered around the red smokestack as is raised from the drop-off. The black of the sea below blocked all and any view of the creature that continued to bleed out. The group started to murmur amongst themselves as the red floated higher and higher. 

“What do you think is down there?” a voice spoke up. 

“Whatever it is, it’s dying,” another said as they pushed towards the edge. 

“Should we help?” they were afraid to go down there. 

“Patton!” 

“Someone get Patton!”

After just those two shouts of his name said clownfish sprinted towards the crowd. His fatherly, well more motherly instinct kicking in, he eyed over each mer in his sightseeing that no one was injured. “What’s happening? What’s wrong?” Patton asked, worried that one of them had fallen down the drop-off. The children and grown merfolk pointed towards the fine line that rose from the deep to the surface. The deep maroon contrasted the deep blue of the ocean in an almost unnatural way. It was going to take him a while to find the bottom, but Patton swam fast following the clouds all the way to the source. Slowly, the group of mer started to follow behind the leader. 

Logan could only see the ever so darkening color of the water around him. Shark attacks are quite a rarity for his species, but as a blind runt, there's nothing that Logan could do about it. This is where he was going to die, on a rock in some kind of ocean he’s never seen, and miles away from his pod. As the bite, tears, and shredded fins continued to bleed, his vision started to blur more than it already was. A third color burst in between the red and blue, a delicate orange that seemed to pierce his iris. Logan reached out towards the small orange dot that started to swim closer and closer to him. 

Patton gasped as the larger figure came into view, it was whale merfolk. He was surprisingly small for his species but large nonetheless. It was strange to see one so far from the surface. 

“Hey, there sweetie, can I have your name?” Patton asked as he held onto the outstretched arm with his smaller ones. “W-what?” the whale mumbled breathing slowly. His air supply had started to run lower and lower, leaving him with only simple gasps and whispers to speak with. 

“Your name darling, what is your name?” he asked again. Patton turned around to be greeted by the group that had followed them. Might as well use the help. “Go get some seaweed, we need to stop the bleeding,” 

“I-it’s it’s Logan,” 

More colors came into view of the boy. They all hid behind the orange before bursting off into separate directions.  
“Well Logan, I’m Patton,” the clownfish introduced himself.

“Those are my little rascals, love them to death,” he gestures to the blurry colors as they rushed off in different directions. Patton got closer and grabbed the sides of Logan’s face. “Okay Logan, can you tell me what happened?” 

He needed the whale to keep talking, he needed him to stay awake. If the poor boy was to fall asleep, there could be a good chance that he wouldn’t make it. Logan slowly processed what was happening around him. “Patton?” 

“Yes?” 

“Am- am I going to die?” Logan asked, his words slurring together. He wasn’t thinking rationally, which was pretty obvious, but the thought had been plaguing his mind the second he had seen the shark. 

“Not on my watch, sweetheart,” Patton huffed. A few of Patton’s kids started to reappear, carrying arms full of seaweed with them. The octopus merpup seemed extremely proud of herself as she carried multiple arms full. “Perfect!” 

Strip by strip, the merfolk handed the clownfish the seaweed. He got to work on Logan in no time. The seaweed strips aren't nearly as effective as they are on the smaller mers, it took over 10 strips just to fully circle his tail. 

“Now, you didn’t answer my question,” Patton pressed the plant flat against Logan’s tail, trying his best to wrap it around. “What happened?” 

Logan’s dark unfocused eyes started to wander around the open ocean. He looked around at all the colors surrounding him. He had to be in tropical territory. At least he would die somewhere beautiful. 

“Hey no, eyes over here,” Patton snapped his fingers in front of Logan’s face. 

“Shark, shark,” 

“A shark attacked you?” 

The whale only nodded as talking started to become even more of a struggle. 

“Air,” he mumbled.

“You’re out of air?” Patton started to panic if Logan moved too much the progress made on healing would be forfeit. The wraps were only half done and needed to be patted down.  
“Kids,”

The various merpups gathered around.

“Help me finish this up,” The clownfish started to softly order the various merpups, they all took up the jobs assigned and worked quickly. If Logan was to survive, he was definitely going to congratulate Patton on his parenting. Within minutes the wraps were set and stuck with mud. Logan couldn’t see it, but each and every merfolk around them smiled with their handy work. 

“Logan? You still with up sweetie?” Patton asked. “We are going to get you some air okay?” 

The whale struggled to gasp out a confirmation. 

“We need to lift our new friend here to the surface,” 

“Why?” a voice came from the crowd. 

“Unlike us, whales don’t have gills,” Patton patiently answered the pup. 

“Now, everyone grab a side and lift on three,” 

The group struggled at first, not everyone was lifting at the same speed, but the school got him to the surface within seconds.  
Logan gasped as his face broke water. As the salty oxygen filled his lungs, the wave of fatigue that plagued him washed over. Fifteen seconds, Logan got fifteen seconds of air before sleep took him. 

“Dad?”

“Yes, sweetie?” 

“I think he passed out,” 

“He what?”

-

Logan woke up for the second time, in a reef he doesn’t know, surrounded by small tropical merpups he doesn’t know, and covered in seaweed. Well at least he hoped it was just seaweed and by the colors, he could guess they were tropical. The area itself was an area of colors, but only a few of them were moving. 

“Dad he’s awake!” for something small that voice was so loud. 

The orange blur was back again. He remembered the voice and the color, but there was no name he could place on this familiar shape. 

“Oh thank goodness Logan, you’re awake!” 

The smaller mer wrapped his arms around Logan’s neck as he sat up. 

“Are you okay? Do you have enough air? We’ve been trying to keep count of how long we have before we have to take you back up, but we’ve lost count a few times,” he admitted shamefully. 

“You know my name?” the whale murmured. 

“Of course I do you silly seagull! You told me earlier,” Patton laughed. 

“I don’t remember, I’m sorry,” the blue whale apologized. 

“No, no, no, no, it’s okay! I’m Patton, I found you outside the reef,” the clownfish had a worried expression, it was a shame that Logan couldn’t see it. 

“Patton,” Logan repeated the name, trying his best to remember anything.  
“Patton!” Logan jerked forward. “You, you saved me! Right?” he asked frantically, his eyes trying to locate Patton’s. 

All the kids could already tell, Logan was like Patton. The clownfish sighed letting go of the boy. “Kids, watch our new friend, I’m going to grab him something,”  
Logan was confused, had he said something wrong?

“Are you like dad?” a voice asked. 

“Yeah! Can you not see?” a second one piped up. 

“W-Wh- of course, I can see,” Logan lied through his baleen plates. 

“If you can see, what kind of fish am I?” one of the green colors spoke.  
Logan was in deep now. 

“A-” he trailed off trying to remember how many green tropical fish there was. 

“A green neon tetra?” 

He heard a room of sighs and groans. He could only assume that he was wrong.  
“Nope! I’m a green tiger barb!” the merpup announced triumphantly. 

“Okay,” Patton came back into view with a small bag. In the bag was a multitude of various glasses he’s collected from the humans. While some of them have managed to find their way into the reef, other glasses were made by the humans for him and his large family. 

“Now we’re gonna see if any of these fit you and if not, there are places we can go to get you working ones,”  
Right after that was said, a set of what felt like metal was attempted to be placed on his face. “Wh-” 

“Too small,”  
Patton and Logan went through all the glasses through classic trial and error. There were no pairs in the pile that matched Logan. The clownfish clicked his tongue as he packed away the spectacles. 

“Looks like we’ll have to visit the docks,” 

The merpups started to cheer, they threw their arms up and started to sing.  
“Docks! Docks! Docks! Docks!” 

“Calm down, calm down!” Patton laughed as the children danced around. They glittered, gathering up small satchels of jewelry and various bits of gold. They lined up at the room entrance, ready to leave. “The docks?” 

Patton came over to the blind whale. “It’s where merfolk shops meet human shops! We can get you a fresh pair of seeing glasses there,”  
The small clownfish tried his best to guild the almost five times larger whale as the group traveled to the docks. They got quite the looks, a clownfish mer, followed by a school of various tropical mer, steering around a very disoriented blue whale mer. 

As they got closer to the shore, the more man-made structures started to appear. The wood beams that forced themselves out of the ground were the only things Logan could see clearly. If he got too close to the shore, there was no going back. 

“Okay, kids!” 

The group stood at attention as they grew closer to the docks, I need you guys to watch after Logan as I find an optometrist, okay?”  
The collective groan from the children could be heard all the way back at the reef. 

“Hey, hey, hey! Once we get Logan an appointment you can all runoff,” 

The clownfish swam off towards the docks, leaving the merpups and him behind. 

“Have you ever been to the docks?” 

“How far can you see?”

“Can you even go to the docks?”

“Yeah! He’s so big!”

Logan was never going to have kids. They asked too many questions. 

“Angie! We’re supposed to look after Logan!” 

Logan perked up, one of them was trying to leave. 

“Yeah, but why do all of us have to watch him!” the voice, who Logan could only assume was Angie, whined. “If some of you would like to go ahead, you may,”  
The whale would be lying if he said he didn’t smile at the many audible gasps from the pups. They all sounded so excited. “Thank you, Logan!” 

Little did he know, the whole group left, leaving him alone while he waited for Patton. 

The area was silent for the longest time. The colors that swam around him were enchanting, but the peacefulness wouldn’t last long. 

“Why hello there sstranger,” a new voice spoke up from behind him. “I haven’t ssseen you around these parts before,” The voice sounded like they had a lisp as they added extra emphasis on their s’s. 

A long smooth tail started to coil itself around Logan. That was when he understood what he was. A sea snake merfolk started to tightly coil around his body, only assuming that he was going to become some sort of prey. They were so close to the docks, was no one going to do anything? The snake started to stroke his chin. The discomfort of the situation was as obvious as the water around them. Logan tried to pull away from the mer, only to be pulled back in by their tail. “An awful lot of injuries you have here dear, what happened to you,” 

Two colors popped into Logan’s general vision. Black and white, nothing too dangerous, but it was still concerning. “Not going to talk, huh?” he asked tightening his grasp on Logan. The pressure on his wounds started to hurt, there were slight glimpses of red starting to enter his vision. “Oopsssie, did I open sssomething up?” the snake acted innocent. The sea snake moved his threateningly soft touch from the whale’s chin to his neck. 

“Who are you?” Logan finally asked the snake. 

“I’m-” the voice was cut off by a more familiar one. 

“Dee, leave him alone!” Patton rushed towards them from the docks. The blessed orange dot saving him yet again from a possible death situation. 

“Oh, Patton! Long-time no sssee!” 

Patton knew Dee? Why was Dee touching him? What was his deal? 

“Stop acting innocent you slime! Logan is no one’s prey,” 

“Oh please, I just wanted to tease the little thing, he’s so small for a whale how could I leave him alone,” 

Patton’s vision was almost as red as the small cloud of blood that started to float up from his tail. “Let. Him. Go, Damien.” Patton commanded with full venom in his words. Logan now understood how the children were so well behaved.

Damien whined as he started to uncoil from Logan. “You don’t let me have any fun, Pat,” 

As the stripped shape started to move farther away from him, Logan started to understand the size of the mer. Dee was bound to be just as long as him, yet the same size as Patton. The image of the stripes was soon replaced by the familiar orange. “Are you okay? He didn’t hurt you too bad did he?” the clownfish started to barrage him with questions. “Oh he’s fine, You’re a ssstrong little whale now aren’t you? Logan,” 

“How do you know his name?”

Had this snake been following them? Was he following the kids? Patton panicked as the snake only stood there with a smug look on his face. 

“I’ve been following him for quite some time, isn’t that right Liten Haval?” 

He knew his nickname, how did Dee know his pod's nickname. 

“There is no way a sea serpent-like you can survive in Norwegian waters, who are you?” Logan needed answers. “Norway isn’t the only place where your pod visits, now is it Liten Haval?”

“Stop calling me that, you aren’t allowed to call me that,” the whale started to grow angry at his stalker. “When-” The serpent opened up to continue to pester him, only to get a quick slap to the face. Patton stood next to the snake, thoroughly disappointed and thoroughly fed up with Dee.

“Leave.” the clownfish’s voice managed to send shivers down Logan’s back, and he wasn’t even the one it was directed towards. “Pa-” 

“Leave!”

Logan jumped back terrified by the booming voice. Damien huffed as he waggled off to find mischief elsewhere. 

Patton wrapped himself around Logan the best he could. “Did I scare you I’m sorry, I’m sorry you had to deal with him, I swear I won’t leave you out here alone again,” the clownfish coddled him like a worried mother, reassuring him with sweet nothings. It was nice to hear for once, but Logan had grown a bit too old for those kinds of comforts, or any comfort at all for that matter. 

“It’s quite alright,” he tried to move away from the mother fish, but ultimately failed as Patton clung to him. They sat there for a little while longer before Patton was all business again.

“Okay, buddy! Let’s go get you your glasses!” 

It took longer to round up all the children than it did to get Logan’s eyes checked. It was almost sundown as the group managed to find the last little mer pup.

“Alright! Let’s all go back to the doc’s to get Logan’s seers,” Patton smiled. “We’ll have to rush back home, we shouldn’t get caught outside the reef at night, it’s very dangerous,” he warned the group. 

The group swam closer to the docks, Logan staying a distance behind because of his fear of getting stuck on the surface. It wasn’t unusual for a larger type of merfolk to be afraid of the shore. The optometrist understood this while they came to get the lenses, sending someone out with basic equipment. Patton came back to the group within seconds, glad to see that the children were still with Logan. 

“Are you ready to finally see the ocean blue?” the clownfish said with excitement. A familiar metal frame was placed on Logan’s face. Slowly the whale opened up his eyes, the once orange blob now a clownfish merfolk.

Patton’s face was round and soft, much like the glasses that fit his face oh so well. His hair is a mess of flowing curls as they moved around in the water. Two piercingly bright blue eyes glowed from Patton’s face, shocking Logan into silence.

He had never seen these things before, he hasn’t really seen anything before. His eyes were wide as he looked at everything before him, unable to keep his excitement at bay.

“Patton! Patton! Oh my, Triton! Look at everything, it’s- it’s,” Logan yelled gesturing at everything around the group. Several kids laughed as the clownfish smiled at him.

"Welcome to the ocean!" He chuckled. It was a struggle to get the group back to the reef, surprisingly, it wasn't the kids. Logan needed to stop and observe every square inch. When they needed to stop for air, the school had to work together to drag the whale back under the water. Thankfully, the group made it home safe.


	2. Good Morning!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short chappie, tomorrow's is going to be a bit longer!

Roman despised his brother, maybe it was loathing, but there was no confirming that.

His brother, Remus, was five times flashier than him and gained the attention of every mer in a five-mile radius.

Remus was covered in jewels, bands, rings, and necklaces, what he never admitted was that every single piece of jewelry was stolen from the docks. The slimy green octopus mer would make his way up the side of the boardwalk to steal the accessories of the poor humans that would leave their things too close to the edge. Roman was filled with a bit more dignity, the crimson octopus would perform with the human theater group that worked on the docks. Octomer prince always had a nice ring to it and was always his best role.

He worked so hard for the human's affection and showed off his appreciation through sporting accessories they would give him. His jewelry wasn't nearly as beautiful as his brothers, but he earned them. Roman gained popularity in both the merfolk and human media, even if it was just the small town's and reef's media, it was still media.

"Remus you're going to hurt yourself one of these days, " the crimson watched as his brother latched himself onto the boardwalk pillars. "What makes you think I haven't already?" The emerald smiled as he slowly started to climb up. "You need to stop stealing from them, it's wrong!" Roman yelled at him as he got higher and higher. "Whatever you say prince eight legs, " 

Roman swam off with a huff, there's was no getting through to the greedy boy. An oh so familiar face started to slither itself to the docks. "If you're looking for Remus, " the crimson called out to Damien. "He's up there, " the prince pointed toward the surface. "Thank you, Roman, " Dee wrapped himself around the pole, waiting for his devious friend to come down from the top. 

Remus hung his arms over the side of the fence while using his tentacles to keep himself stable. He looked back and forth, smiling and waving at the humans who have him any mind. "Hello, again Remus, " a familiar voice came up next to him, sounding as done as ever. "Thomas! Thomas! Can you get me a corn dog?" Remus cooed at the marine biologist. Dr.Sanders knew the docs well, meaning he knew the octopus brothers well. "Did you come up here to steal?" Thomas ignored the emerald's whine. "I promise it was just for food scraps, " 

"Remus, every time you consume human food you get sick, " the biologist leaned against the dock to take a good look at the boy. "You already look a little sickly, do you want me to go get you some fish?" The emerald octopus groaned throwing his head back. "I'm so tired of fish! I want a corn dog, " he started yelling. People started to gather around the two. Those who knew the docks knew to keep their distance from Remus, but the tourists always want pictures and to give gifts. "Mommy mommy! Can I give the mermaid the rest of my corndog!" A precious girl ran over to the fence. She started up at Remus and Remus stated back at her. "I don't think that's a good id-" 

the octopus cut poor Thomas off. "Don't listen to them, sweetie, " He smiled at the girl. Unlatching his suckers, Remus lifted himself all the way over the fence and bowed in front of the little girl. "It would be an honor to accept your gift, my queen, " 

Thomas rolled his eyes at his actions. The girl held out the corn dog for the octopus to oh so graciously accept. The girl only giggled as he returned to his position on the other side of the fence, the carnival food gripped in one of his tentacles. "I would hate to cut this meeting so short, Thomas, but!" Remus gave the biologist a devilish smile. "I don't plan on drying up, Tata!" Remus shoved the corn dog into his mouth as he dropped from the top of the pair to the bottom. With a harsh splash, he was gone. 

"It'ss about time you showed up-" the snake paused, watching the octopus scarf down something. "What, what are you eating?" 

"I'm not sharing, " was the only reply he got, it was muffled through a full mouth. "You know what? Never mind, " 

Dee unraveled himself from the side of the pair and attempted to wrap his way around Remus, of course, he failed and ended up with the octopus wrapping around him. "Do you remember that runt whale we ssaw last year?" He smiled. "How could I not! He was so small I just wanted to wrap him up!" The emerald laughed. "Well he'sss back in the Caribbean, but he'sss with Patton, " the snake sighed. "Well we can change that, can't we?" 

-

The morning broke, but no one in the humble abode was moving. The perks of being merfolk were not having the need to go out and do all the things that a human needs to do. Unfortunately, Patton wasn’t going to raise a bunch of lazy fish. “Get up! It’s morning, morning!” the clownfish started to sing as he lightly shook various beds.

The smile on his face started to fade as he realized Logan wasn’t in the room. The window was wide open. Patton quickly swam over to the opening and looked out. There was nothing but beautiful open sea. A small group of the tired children started to crowd around, none of them really concerned as they knew better than their father. 

“Dad?” Angie jet up to him.

“Look up,” 

Patton stuck his head out the window to see Logan floating up towards the surface. He popped back in to see the little octopus pup with an I told you so look on her face. “Guess it was my turn to forget he didn’t have gills,” he chuckled at himself. “Can I go wake him up?” a small blue tang spoke up from the crowd. The kids all shuffled away, letting the little guy move forward. “Sure, Travis, go ahead,” the clownfish smiled as little Travis swam up to their whale friend. 

“Alright, alright! Everyone to the kitchen! Let’s get some breakfast,” he waved the children off towards the family room. 

Logan looked around at the surface area, he had been staring at the small island and reef for the past 12 hours. His species technically don’t sleep, they can old shut off half the brain and stay at the surface, running out of air while sleeping would result in a serious death. The good part about this though was the supply of krill that made their way to the surface at night.

“Mr.Logan?” a small voice called out to him. Logan brought himself back under the water to be face to face with a very very small blue tang. 

“Yes?” 

“Dad’s making breakfast now, what do you eat?” the small boy asked.

“That’s a good question,” Logan smiled. “My species eats krill,” 

“What’s krill?” the little tang was full of questions. Logan liked that, it meant the kid was seeking knowledge. 

“It’s like shrimp,” 

“I don’t think we have any of those, do you sleep?”

“No,” 

“Woah! But everyone sleeps! Are you healthy? How do you survive?” 

Too many questions.

“Don’t worry about it little one, I’ll be down there in just a second okay?” he smiled at Travis, watching the little blue swim back through the window and into the reef home. Logan resurfaced to take a deep breath, topping off on his air supplies. 

The whale swam through the bedroom window and into the family room.

“Good morning, Patton,” 

The clownfish whipped around with a wide smile. 

“Good morning, Lo!” he sang. 

“Are you hungry? I don’t quite know what whalefolk eat, but I’m sure I have something,” the fatherly fish cooed as he set up breakfast for all the children, who were currently screaming in the other room. “No, I’m good, I’m going to go see what’s going on-”   
A loud crash sounded from the room next door. 

“In there,” 

Patton only laughed as the yelling continued. “Don’t worry, they’re fighting over silverware,” He pulled out several new plates as the finished ones were set to the side. “In ten seconds its going to be dead silent, then someones going to tell a bad joke and then everyone will laugh,” the clownfish pause pointing towards the room. 

“Wh-” 

It was deathly silent. 

A hushed voice came from the room. 

“Looks like someone is too big for their beaches,” 

A blast of laughter bounced through the room. Logan looked at Patton, absolutely amazed on how familiar he is with the routine.


	3. DayBreak

How are we going to go about thiss?” 

Damien questioned his demented friend. “Well, if we want to get our pretty penny, we have to get Patton away from money bags,” Remus surprisingly enough was making some kind of sense. “You stalked him, how does he work?” the octopus gestures towards the snake.

“I stalked hisss pod, get it right,” 

“But still,” 

“Well, he never sssleeps so that's a problem, but sssince he needs to be at the sssurface constantly,” 

“He’ll be away from Patton!” 

“Exactly, my dear friend,” 

-

Roman found his way to his beach, the cliff sides and rough seas made it nearly impossible for any human to find their way to the spot. The prince had found this spot during an especially tough time in the winter when he wasn’t needed by his theater group. It was a beautiful spot for him to watch the ocean waves as he reflected on what he could improve in his ideas and acting. The desolate beach was his spot and his spot alone.

Or so he thought. 

The octopus poked his head out of the water with a scowl, someone was on HIS beach. 

Virgil stretched himself out on the beach, six weeks of not moving was a blessing but food and sunlight was sadly a necessity. The ghost crab plopped himself back onto the sand, snapping his pincers back and forth to get them working again. 

Roman debated on whether or not he was going to confront this unknown mer. Were they even a merfolk? To subterrestrial folk count as actual mers? Whatever this person was, Roman wanted them off his beach. “Hey!” he called from the water. The crab perked up, looking around for where the strange voice was coming from. “Wh-” 

“Who are you?” the voice called again. 

“Who am I? Who are you? And where are you?” Vigril called back. The salt in his voice was almost as bountiful as the salt in the ocean. Who was invading his beach? 

Roman ducked under the water to swim closer to the shore. Virgil stared out at the ocean, there was no way he was imagining that whole thing, someone was there. “Whatever you want, I’m not going to give it to you!” he called out, still trying to find the source of the voice. He moved back closer to his burrow as Roman’s head popped out near the shore. The octopus leveled himself and stood up at the beach. A blush laced his face that was almost as red as his tentacles. 

The ghost crab was special species of ghost crab, he was pink. The shine of his shell glittered as the sun slowly moved over head. The purple of his joints became more and more visible as he moved. Despite sleeping for six weeks straight, there was bags under his eyes that highlighted how large his pupils were.

“H-hello,” Roman managed to stutter out. Virgil panicked, diving back into his burrow. “Wait! Wait! I didn’t mean to scare you!” the prince crawled his way further upshore. “I was just- I just,” 

“Please come out,” Roman begged. “I-I’m not going to hurt you, if anything you’re stronger than me,” he chuckled. A head poked out from inside the large burrow. “Who are you?” his voice was like a dream. Or maybe Roman was just romanticizing this too much, but what could he say? He was in love. He took this as a chance to present himself formally. The octopus bowed breaking his eye contact with the crab boy. “My name is Roman, may I ask for yours?” 

Virgil slowly climbed his way out of his burrow, still keeping his distance from the prince. “My name is Virgil, what are you doing on my beach?” 

Virgil. The name flowed like it came straight out of a story book. Roman adored it. 

Too bad it was awkward story time. 

“Well, I found this beach during the winter and used it as a place to vent,” he started to explain. 

“I didn’t know anyone lived here, I humbly apologize,”   
Roman held his head down low. Sadly he would have to give up his secret spot, he could find another one, right? 

Virgil rolled his eyes at the prince. “As long as you don’t steal my food or bother me, I will allow you to stay on my beach,” 

Roman’s face lit up like the boardwalk on the beautiful summer nights. “Really?!” 

“Yes, really,” 

The prince silently celebrated as he started at the crab in adoration. Virgil climbed up and around the octopus as he searched for food scraps on the beach. The beach was almost completely clean, saved for two large piles of seaweed. “Did, did you clean up the shore?” he asked the intruder. Roman struggled to crawl his way over to Virgil. “Yes, preferred the clean sand,” 

Virgil looked at the octopus sceptically. 

“Okay maybe I was looking through it for shiny things, sue me,” he admitted. 

-

“Kids it's time to stop bothering Logan,” Patton begged for the thousandth time. As much fun as he was having as he taught the kids about the ocean life of a whale, the questions were starting to take their toll. “But can’t we stay up for just a little longer,” a small voice whined, it was little Travis. “Yeah! Please dad?” the group said as a chorus.

Patton looked out at the sea of kids and spotted that a good 1/4th of them were already asleep. 

“As much as I’d love for you guys to get what you want, even the mightiest little fish need to get their sleep, besides I’m sure Lolo need to go up and get some air,”   
The group goaned, the sound slightly waking those that were asleep. “Off to be now, go go, I’ll me in there to wish you all good night in a second,” 

As the children scuttled off to the giant shared room, Logan plopped himself down onto the living room floor. Teaching was draining sometimes. 

“You have no idea how grateful I am that you managed to keep them entertained for so long!” Patton smiled at him as he cleaned up the room. “There were times when not even Roman could figure out how to capture their attention,” 

“Roman?” 

The clown fish gasped. 

“You don’t know who Roman is? he ‘s quite famous around these parts!” Patton cooed. Logan adjusted his glasses, looking over at him. “Maybe I can go meet this Roman tomorrow,” he suggested. 

“I’m not sure if you two would click very well,” 

Logan huffed at this. 

“What is he? A killer whale?” 

Patton started to chuckle. 

“He’s just an octopus, an extremely pompous octopus, but you didn’t hear that from me,” 

The whale started to laugh. 

“Oh no of course not,” 

The two laughed before Patton left to wish each and every child good night. 

Logan hummed as he listened to the clownfish slowly make his way through the room, he might as well say good night too right?

The whale got up from the floor and managed to fit his head and shoulders through the kids door. “Good night everyone,” 

“Good night Logan!” 

He was unable to hide the smile that was plastered to his face, maybe he’d get used to this. 

-

“Look! There! He’s There!” Remus practically screamed into Damiens poor ears. The partners in crime watched as the whale swam to the surface. “Shut up! If he hears you we’re ssscrewed!” Dee delivered a harsh slap to the back of his head. Remus had the first stable thought he's had in years. "Other than humans, a whale's natural predator is a squid right?" 

"Yes? Why are you-" 

The octopode cut him off simply by lifting up a tentacle. 

"You grab his glasses, and I'll spook em!" 

"Husssssh!"


	4. The End of All Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the final chapter! Look out for other stories following this same universe! They are definitely in the works.

The powerful tail swished through the water as it struggled to free itself from the tentacles that gripped hard against the skin. It was the shark attack all over again. Logan couldn't see 3 feet in front of him, his vision reverting back to the color scope it was before. There was green, a lot of green, and gold. The flashes of the bands in the moonlight was almost enchanting, only if the subjects weren't trying to restrict him.

"Woah there buckaroo!" the green flash started to speak. Its voice having a very fake southern accent, before reverting back to a very cartoonish voice.

"I'm not trying to hurt you," 

Ultimately failed in calming him down, but the attempt was appreciated. Although they were small, the feeling of the suckers on his skin was everything but comforting. A familiar string of black and white started to flash itself into view. "You?" he questioned, forgetting the name of the serpent before it came back to him.

"Damien?" 

"Lovely to sssee you remember me, little whale," he spoke twirling the glasses in his hand. "What do you want?" Logan continued to struggle against Remus. "Well if I told you now, that would ruin the ssssuprise," 

This wasn't good.

-

Logan was gone, he wasn't at the surface, he wasn't at the reef, he wasn't in the cave. Did he do something wrong? Did he say something wrong? What did Patton do to chase the whale away? 

The kids didn't wake up with their usual breakfast, in fact, the kids didn't even wake up at their usual time. The kids hid in their rooms the whole morning. 

"Dad-" Travis spoke up. 

The broken fish looked up from the kitchen table. 

"Where's Logan?" 

He was going to sob. 

"I don't know baby, I don't know," 

Travis inched out of the room, tens of kids following behind him. Patton looked over their faces, the group had only known him for two days, yet it was all unspokenly said that he had meant so much more than those two days. 

"Can we look for him?" 

-

Remus stayed behind Logan, while Dee watched him upfront as they waited for the man from the aquarium. The boat was supposed to meet them right out here for an easy trade. The emerald octopode couldn't wait for his share of the reward, he could get so many shiny things with it. Maybe he could finally outshine his brother. That was his one and only wish. 

Logan broke the silence. “What’s going to happen to me?” an innocent enough question. 

Dee looked back at Remus, the worst possible person to ask what to say in this situation. “I don’t know little whale, I don’t know,” he lied. There was no reason to freak him out this far in the trade. The displacement in the water and the sound of a boat engine started to rock the trio. 

-

“Patton!” a voice pierced through the water, sadly not the voice he wanted to hear. “Have you seen Remus?” it was Roman. The boy was practically a son to him, as well as his mischievous brother, but let’s save those two for another story shall we? 

“I haven’t seen him, I’m sorry, have you seen a very small whale folk anywhere recently?” he asked desperately. The kids started to gather around, they were usually very happy to get a visit from big brother Roman, but there was something off about everything that day. Roman looked around confused. “What do you mean? Like a baby? Did you adopt another?” he asked his eyebrows creasing together. 

“No, no, no, an adult, but he’s considerably small for a whale folk,” Patton moved closer to the crimson octopode. He prayed that he would know anything about this, anything at all.

“I’m sorry, I haven’t,”

The desperate sighs that echoed Patton’s made his heartache. The group had just got done sweeping the entire reef and they were starting to lose hope. “Dad, what if he went back to his pod?” a small voice piped up. “No he had to be whalenapped!” another rang. “No way, he’s too big for that!” a third argued. “But he’s such a small whale!” 

Small whale, small whale-

“Oh. My. Starfish.” 

Roman waved his hands in front of Patton’s face. “Are you okay? Who is this whalefolk you guys are obsessed about? Is he okay?” Roman’s ask, unknowing to him his questions would go unanswered for a long time.

The clownfish grabbed onto his hand. “I think I know where your brother is,” 

-

Thomas had the tendency to stick his nose where it didn’t belong. In a lot of cases it would get into serious amounts of trouble, but with that trouble came justice. Illegal trafficking, mermaid selling rings, all that and a can of sardines. What could he say? He had the magic eye, able to see through all environmental alibis. As he tracked the speed boat, something in his magic eye told him that this was more than just a few hunters going out to collect for the rings, something told him that this was a sea and land tag team capture. The men spoke about “Receiving from the snake” and that the would earn “The liars pretty penny” 

The pair of goons set off too many alarms and shined too many red flags from the day they stepped into the aquarium. 

Then the green dot stood to stagnate, 60 miles away from the aquarium and 10 miles away from the reef. 

-

“Have you seen a snake anywhere?!” 

“Have you seen a green octopus anywhere?!” 

“Did you see where they went?!” 

“Boat?”

“What boat?!” 

“They’re going to a boat?!” 

-

Thomas followed out on the Sea-Doo 150, it was a fast little thing, but he had to be careful. If he came upon them too fast he could give away his position faster than the boat could go. 

Pulling up, just close enough to see the broken-down fishing boat. He pulled the marine binoculars and went to work. After a few seconds of adjusting, he realized the vague image he had now was the best he was going to get. There were several things moving on the boat, things that Thomas could guess were people. The backside of the boat dropped its net line into the water.

“Maybe I’m just being paran-” 

The net line pulled a considerably short whale mer out of the water. 

“I stand corrected,” 

“Coast guard, this is Dr.Sanders with Ocean Boat Aquarium, do you copy?” 

“Hear you loud and clear Doc, copy,”

“I’d like to report another trafficking I’m currently sitting at-,” 

“We’re on our way,” 

-

The blood started to rush to Logan’s head as he thrashed against the metal rope laced around him. His head sadly wasn’t the only place blood was headed to as the rough wire started to cut into his skin, giving him rug burns in all the wrong places. “He’s damaging the goods, knock him out or something,” one of the men yelled to the others, making no movement to stop logan himself. “Hey, all boss said was to return him alive, didn’t say nowhere that he had to be the healthiest he could be,” 

Remus tapped a tentacle on the deck, climbing up and over the side of the boat. “Hey, what about our end of the deal!” he whined. “Get out of here kid, unless you want to join your friend there,” one of them said pointing towards Logan. They all laughed. “But we brought you him! This isn’t fair!” Remus continued to fight, moving farther and farther onto the boat. “And we said scram boy!” the same one got up and started to move towards him.

If he was going, to be honest with himself, he had never been more scared of a human before.

The emerald octopode quickly retreated back to the guard rails of the boat, watching as the man got closer and closer. Remus barely had time to scramble back up and over before he was thrown off the side. The man laughed as he watched the octopode hit the surface of the water and sink down. 

“Dee, I think we fucked up,”

-

As the bottom of the boat started to get closer and closer into view, so did the stripes and the bright green of a pair that had some major explaining to do.

“Remus!” Roman called out to his brother, his anger dropping as he got to see the saltwater tears floating upwards and joining the water around him. Damien, on the other hand, was furious. The harsh thwap on his tail and fists hitting against the boat echoed through the water. “You fucking dickweeds! You promised!” He hit the side of the boat with another harsh smack, successfully putting a dent in it but unsuccessfully managing to do anything else. Patton turned around towards the school of kids following him.

“Stay here! No matter what happens I need you all to stay right here! Do you understand?” he had used his dad's voice for once, almost scaring the group. He turned back around and started to rush to the side of the boat, not waiting for an answer. A drop of blood fell into the water, Patton didn’t even need to pop his head out of the water to know who it was. 

“Damien what the fuck did you do,” 

“That doesn’t matter right now, we just need to fix it!” 

Roman left the kids behind and swam up to his brother. “Remus,” he spoke softly not to alert him. “What’s happening?” 

The emerald octopode took a shaky breath before spilling out everything in that one breath. “Me and Dee captured some guy and sold him to these fisher dudes for shiny things but the fisher dudes are really mean and they threw me off the boat and they are hurting the guy we captured and I feel really bad about it and oh my god Roman, is he gonna die? Are we gonna get taken away? Wh-” 

“Deep breaths Remus, Deep breaths, go stand with the kids, we’re going to fix this,” 

-

The coast guard got there faster than Thomas expected, the boat had just restarted their engines as the guard boats started to surround them. 

-

“It’s the fucking feds! Step on it dumbass!” 

The boat started up, what none of them anticipated was that the broken down thing had no speed. Logan slammed against the deck, his already blurred vision started to spot in and out. “You’re not going to get away,”

A sharp kick to his head finished the job. Logan was down for the count. 

-

“This is the last time we are trusting a fish to do a man’s job,” 

“This is the last time you’re going to be doing this job,” 

The second officer laughed, as the other escorted the poacher off their boat and into the speed. 

Thomas hoisted himself onto the rundown fishing boat, lazily tying his boat to the railing. He looked up and down at the passed out mer that hung above the wench. A splash was heard from the water and fists started to bang against the side of the boat. 

“Let him down, you cowards! He’s going to get some kind of brain damage!” Patton screamed thrashing his tail, denting the boat. The coast guard looked over at the pod of misfit mers that rioted at the side of the boat. Thomas rushed over to them, recognizing Patton and the R brothers.

“Woah, Woah Pat calm down!” he held up his arms. “Thomas?” the clownfish flashed a face of surprise before bringing the threateningly stern one back. “I’m not calming down, till HE gets down” 

Thomas looked back, the whale folk started to stir they we all lucky that he breathed air. 

“I’ll get him down, but I’ll need help to get him over the side of the boat, I'm not exactly the strongest,” Within a couple of seconds, two particular octopodes started to climb up to the side.

-

Logan hit the water with a harsh splash, the impact pain forcing him awake as he slowly started to float downwards. Things started to feel like deja vu as a familiar orange shape came back. “Logan!” 

He chuckled, trying to focus on keeping himself afloat. “They broke my glasses, I’m sorry Pat,” 

Patton tackled him, gripping onto him as his life depended on it. “I guess I owe you my life squared,” 

A familiar shade of green came up into the frame. Logan tensed, that color was a danger, the color that once meant safety and healing out in nature now held a regretful shade of caution. “Logan-” the once cartoon sounding voice now low. “I-” 

Patton glared daggers the octopode, only adding to the pressure he was under. “I’m sorry,” the emerald ripped the band-aid off simultaneously releasing the dam as he did, spilling out everything. “I didn’t know they were going to hurt you and I was being really greedy and I know that doesn’t excuse anything and I know you probably won’t forgive me but please please please know I'm not a bad guy I didn’t know this was gonna happen I didn’t mean it I-” 

Logan brought his tail up towards the green form in front of him. “We’ll have this all figured out in time,” 

Strangely enough, the words were reassuring. “And don’t expect you’ll get out of this lecture Remus,” Patton added sternly, shaking his fist. “I know dad,” 

Logan could laugh at the moment, this trouble maker was one of Pat’s kids? 

“I have to follow suit and apologize on my brother’s behalf, I’m sure he never meant for it to happen this way, a slimy snake on the other half has some super explaining to do,” a crimson form joined the green one, they looked vaguely alike. “By chance, is your name Roman?” Logan asked the red. Roman smiled fluttering his tentacles. “I assume Patton has told you about me?” 

A light voice attempted to break through the water’s surface. “Hey! Guys?” it was Thomas. 

“As much as I would hate to break up this reunion, can one of you tell me what was happening here?” 

Only four heads popped out of the water. Patton looked around, trying to find the familiar flashes of white and black. If he wasn’t furious already he was now. Remus swam forward attaching himself to the side of the ship as he climbed up. “I can,” 

-

Damien cursed as he packed his things, Remus is damned, he wasn’t going to stay in a reef where he was a wanted man. It was time to scratch his scales and try again. 

-

The last three stayed near the surface, watching and waiting for the emerald octopode to come back to the sea. They made small talk. 

Well, Patton and Roman made small talk, Logan just listened. 

“I met a wonderful mer, today padre,” the crimson octopode spoke with a love-struck tang.

“Ooo! Tell me more! What are they like?” 

“He’s charming, real, beautiful, he shows concern for me, he’s compassionate, and I love him!” his heart soared speaking of the crab that he had just met. “But he’s also a sarcastic Debbie downer, but gods it just makes him all the better!” 

Logan chuckled looking in the general direction of him. “You sound lovesick and you’ve only known him for less than 24 hours,”

“Well excuse me for valuing love at first sight!” he gave a fake offended huff. 

A slow emerald shape dropped itself into the water. “Welcome back, Remus,” Logan greeted him, the expression on Remus’s face far more than happy to be back.  
“ Thomas might be taking me back to the aquarium,” his voice wasn’t high over a whisper. 

The waters were dead silent until Roman breathed a sigh. “How long did he say?” 

“At least 3 months,” 

The red and green pressed together in Logan’s vision, he could only assume they were hugging. Patton left his side to join the brothers adding an out of place orange to the group.

-

It has been a long time since then, Logan got replacements, little Travis has grown up, Damien hasn’t been seen since, and Remus became the new mascot of the aquarium. 

Remus stayed with Thomas. ‘The Duke of the Carribean’ they called him. It hadn’t taken him long to decide that he would never want to leave. He would no longer have to steal from the docks the tourists would just give him everything he could have ever wanted.

Logan stayed with Patton. There was no reason for searching for a pod that had left him to die, but there was all the reason to stay with someone who despite being three times smaller than you, had managed to save your life more than once. He helped raise the children, teaching them the knowledge of the vast sea and helping the round-up of the kids who have been abandoned much like him. 

Roman stayed with Virgil. Despite the land differences, they made it work. Roman would hold out strong during the ghost crab’s hibernation. He would gather things to the beach, placing them around the burrow. He would write notes and letters to slip inside for him to read once he woke up. During the summer Virgil would sit closer to the water so Roman wouldn’t dry out. He would try his best not to snip at him while they touched. They made it work. 

They all made it work.


End file.
